Syracuse's Jim Boeheim claims fourth Big East Coach of the Year

View full sizeDennis Nett / The Post-StandardSyracuse coach Jim Boeheim accepts the Big East Coach of the Year award from Big East commissioner John Marinatto at Madison Square Garden. New York – If the Big East coaches had picked Syracuse to finish second or third in their preseason poll, Jim Boeheim might not have been accepting the Big East’s Coach of the Year trophy on Tuesday.

But the league’s coaches penciled in Syracuse for a sixth-place finish after the Orange lost its top three scorers of last year’s team and, as a result, there was Big East commissioner John Marinatto handing the trophy to Boeheim at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

“Normally, this award is a product of people picking you in the wrong place. That’s all it is. I thought we could be a good team. If we’d been picked second or third, I wouldn’t be getting this award. Somebody else would be getting it. That’s the just way these awards generally work.’’

Boeheim won the award for the fourth time. He is the dean of Big East coaches. This is his 34th year as Syracuse’s head coach. He’s the only coach in the Big East to have been with his school since the league’s inaugural 1979-80 season.

But Boeheim said this year’s squad is special. The Orange set a school record for regular season victories in racking up a 28-3 record. Syracuse went 15-3 in the Big East for the Orange’s first outright regular season title since 1991.

“We’ve never had a team play any better than this in 34 years in this conference,’’ Boeheim said. “We’ve had a few good teams, but this has been a special team. That’s why I’m here.’’

Boeheim also won the Big East’s Coach of the Year award in 1984, 1991 and 2000.

“This is a team award,’’ Boeheim said. “When you win a coach of the year award, it’s because you have great players. It’s not coaching; it’s the players. We had great players. We had the player of the year in the league. We just had a great group. They led the league in field goal percentage and they’ve been one of the leading teams in team defense and that’s how you win games.’’

Boeheim had plenty of competition for this year’s award. Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon took a team that was picked to finish ninth and wound up second behind Syracuse. Marquette’s Buzz Williams, whose teams was picked to finish 12th, guided the Golden Eagles to a fifth-place finish. Mike Brey kept Notre Dame afloat despite the loss of Luke Harangody. Stan Heath has South Florida in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid.

“Mike Brey in the last part of the year did an unbelievable job,’’ Boeheim said. “He loses his best player and the player of the year in the league and a candidate this year and turns it out. Jamie Dixon did an unbelievable job at Pittsburgh. Buzz Williams did an unbelievable job, I thought, at Marquette. Stan Heath did a great job at South Florida.

“Every year you can look at three or four coaches in this league and say they all did unbelievable jobs,’’ Boeheim added. “That’s true every year. There’s at least that many this year.’’